Wolfram's Burial Ceremony
by Tetra26
Summary: The morning after a late-night accidental return to Shin Makoku, Yuuri is awakened with the news that he is to attend Wolfram's burial ceremony. How ever will he cope? Yuuri-style, of course! Wolfram x Yuuri


Wolfram's Burial Ceremony

by Tetra26/Batty Gal

* * *

Summary: The morning after a late-night accidental return to Shin Makoku, Yuuri is awakened with the news that he is to attend Wolfram's burial ceremony. How Ever will he cope? Yuuri-style, of course! Wolfram x Yuuri

* * *

Yuuri should have realized that something was amiss when Wolfram didn't appear in his bedroom the night he returned.

His return had been accidental (or maybe not) on his part. He had been in the bath, half-asleep, when he suddenly started to go back. He hadn't said a word when Günter had led him to his room, too tired to do so. He hadn't been too tired, however, to note the absence of Wolfram in his pristinely-made bed.

Still, after wondering where Wolfram was as he settled in the covers, he had chalked it up to either being that Wolfram was already sleep elsewhere, or that he would come later on that night.

So when an excited Günter came to him in the morning and shook him awake gently, telling him to wake up so that he could attend Wolfram's _burial ceremony_, he practically shot out of bed. "What did you say?" he asked as he quickly stood, his heart racing.

Yuuri was fairly certain he didn't hear Günter right. There was no way this smiling man had just informed him, excitedly, that he was about to miss Wolfram's burial ceremony. Surely, he had misheard due to his mind still being clouded with sleepiness, right?

"They're getting ready to start Wolfram's burial ceremony right now, so please go and dress in your formal uniform, Your Majesty. I can never get over how handsome you look in it!"

He stepped back, as if slapped. Günter had said it again. Burial ceremony. For Wolfram.

Wolfram was dead? No.

No.

As Günter pushed him, the scream that rippled through his head finally made its way to his lips.

"No! It can't be! Wolfram is having a burial ceremony today? No!"

"Your Majesty, calm down! It's alright! Everyone must have burial ceremonies, eventually. Whenever yours comes, it will be simply splendid!"

Yuuri stared at Günter, appalled by his flippancy about the entire matter. He knew that customs and reactions were different in Shin Makoku, but this was just too much!

"How long before the ceremony?" Yuuri asked, choked up at the idea that Wolfram – his Wolfram – was dead.

"It starts in a half-hour," Günter said.

Yuuri flopped down in the closest chair, unable to move any further. He was simply in shock, and couldn't accept that he'd never see Wolfram alive again.

Or hear his voice as he yelled at him for cheating.

Or feel his warm body against his in bed at night.

Yuuri was seconds away from bawling like a baby. "Why did this happen? How did this happen?" he asked, bracing himself for any grisly details as to how Wolfram died.

"It was planned," Günter said, causing Yuuri to gasp. "He's been planning it for quite some time."

Wolfram had committed suicide? Why? He had seemed perfectly fine the last time Yuuri was home, and things had seemed to be going so well between them. Yuuri ran through all the reasons as to why Wolfram would do such a thing, and could only come up with one reason.

Him.

Had Wolfram finally tired of his half-answers as to where their relationship was going, and decided that he couldn't go on anymore? Had he driven the man he'd come to care for so very much to take his own life?

"Günter, I want to be alone," Yuuri said, sadly. He needed time to, at the very least, accept that Wolfram really was dead.

"You won't be coming to the ceremony?" Günter asked.

"I'll be there. I just need a few moments to gather my thoughts..."

"Your Majesty, are you alright?" Günter asked. "Why are you so upset? Are you sick? Do I need to call in Gisela?"

Yuuri thought that even Günter couldn't be so oblivious to what he was feeling. For Shinou's sake, his fiancé was going to be buried in half an hour!

"Just go, alright," he said, too distraught to yell and curse the way he wanted to.

"Very well, Your Majesty, but I hope you'll cheer up by the time the ceremony starts. After all, there's no reason to be sad at such a celebration of life!"

If looks could kill, Günter's retreating back would have been riddled with bullet holes, pierced with poison-tipped arrows, and bleeding from a knife-carved message that said "Your ancestors curse your dishonorable name!". Wolfram was dead, and Günter was talking about it as if it was grounds for a celebration?

Sometimes, he really hated Shin Makoku's quirkiness.

* * *

Yuuri was surprised to find that, upon entering the grand hall, there weren't that many people there. Only Günter, Wolfram's mother and brothers, and a handful of others were present. All in all, maybe twenty people.

Surely, Wolfram had meant more to many other people than that? Or was suicide taboo here, like it often was on Earth? So helped him, if anyone tried to tell him about some archaic law against those who committed suicide, he was going to flip!

He swallowed hard as he made his way to the front of the room towards the casket. When he approached, he noticed that Wolfram's body wasn't there, but what was in there shocked him.

Only a sword and Wolfram's uniform were in the casket.

Yuuri was horrified by the thought that nothing had been left of Wolfram's body – and cursed himself for not asking how Wolfram committed suicide. Had he jumped off a cliff, and his body could not be recovered? Or was it something more dramatic, like managing to burn himself to death with his own maryoku? Either way, the emptiness of the casket was enough to finally make Yuuri break into full-out sobs.

"Wolfram!" he hollered with abandon, ignoring the startled looks around him. He dropped to his knees in front of the casket, clutching at its side while going into hysterics.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Günter and Gwendal asked, simultaneously. They moved towards him, but stopped as Conrart reach him.

"Yuuri, what's the matter?" Conrart asked, stooping down beside Yuuri and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"How can you ask me what's wrong?!" Yuuri cried. He didn't care that he probably looked a mess, or that snot was running out of his nose. "How can you all be like that when Wolfram's gone?"

He ignored the confusion on their faces. He suspected that things would not be pretty if one of them dared to open their mouths and tell him how this was a time for celebration, and not tears. He would _make_ it a time for tears if someone said such a thing!

"Wolfram," Yuuri said, ignoring the others and addressing the casket. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to hurt you, just come back to me! Why did you have to leave me? Why? I wasn't worth committing suicide over!"

"Suicide!" several people exclaimed.

"Oh my! Yuuri, I think you've got things wrong-" Conrart started.

"I haven't gotten anything wrong! Maybe your laws and customs tell you when someone dies, it's time for a celebration, but I don't want to celebrate! I want to mourn! I want to cry, and I can cry if I want to!"

"But Yuuri, Wolfram's only gone-" Conrart started, again.

"Don't you _dare_ tell me he's gone to a better place! I don't want to hear that! His places was here with me, not wherever the dead go!"

"Yuuri, if you would only listen to me-"

"I don't want to listen to you, or anyone else!" Yuuri blabbered between tears.

"Not even me, wimp?" Yuuri heard from behind him.

He gasped, and quickly turned around.

There Wolfram stood, in an all-white uniform, with a tattered-old book in his hand and a bemused expression on his face.

"Great Shinou, Wolfram! Are you a ghost? Can anyone else see you?" Yuuri asked, inching away from him.

"Yuuri, Wolfram's not-" Conrart tried to speak, yet again.

"I'm not talking to myself, I can see Wolfram! His ghost is right here! I can see him!" Yuuri shouted, pointing at the spot where Wolfram stood. "Wolfram, I'm so very sorry, for everything. Please know that I did care for you."

"Your Majesty, Wolfram isn't-" Günter attempted to interrupt, but Wolfram held his hand up, effectively cutting him off.

"Go on, Yuuri. Please," Wolfram said. "You cared for me?"

"I did! I truly did! Why did you have to kill yourself? How can I go on without you? Can you ever forgive me? Will you be around like Shinou is? I have so many questions I need to ask you..."

"I'll answer them, but first I want you to go into detail as to how much you cared for me," Wolfram said, smiling down at him.

Yuuri watched as Conrart stood while shaking his head. "Let's just leave them," Conrart muttered, walking off. Yuuri ignored the exasperated looks of the others following him out. So what if they didn't understand his grief? At least he understood it, and that was all that counted!

His attention turned back to Wolfram's ghost.

"Now about that caring for me part," Wolfram said, in what Yuuri thought might be a sly tone.

* * *

That night, after Yuuri had furiously gone to bed, he was utterly annoyed by yet another snicker erupting from Wolfram's side of the bed.

"I am not amused!" Yuuri exclaimed, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes as the bed started to shake even harder due to Wolfram's silent laughter. "Quit causing the bed to shake, you're keeping me awake!"

"But Yuuri? How ever will you sleep again, knowing that you drove me to suicide?"

Wolfram's silent laughter and occasional snicker turned into a loud laughing fit, and Yuuri fumed as his fiancé cackled about the whole incident.

"It wasn't funny, alright? I really thought you were dead!" Yuuri said.

"And who's fault was that? I know for a fact Günter covered symbolic burial ceremonies a few weeks ago. Had you paid attention, you would have noticed that the casket used was one especially made for such!"

Yuuri vaguely recalled Günter lecturing him on the matter, but he had tuned it out due to his thoughts being elsewhere.

On Wolfram, in fact.

Still, he thought that Wolfram had gone too far by letting him believe he was a ghost for so long. Wolfram should have at least let have let him know immediately that he was alive. Conrart and Günter had tried to point it out, but he hadn't bothered to listen to either of them.

His face burned upon remembering how he had eventually confessed to Wolfram's "ghost" that he loved him, and how stupid and afraid he'd been of admitting it out loud. He was reeling over the entire matter so much, that he didn't notice that Wolfram had inched closer. It wasn't until a strong arm snaked around him that he was startled out of his thoughts.

"I'm sorry that I gave you such a scare, Yuuri. If I hadn't left to get the final burial item that I'd forgotten, you would have seen me there and understood instead of causing such a scene. However, I'm not sorry about the outcome," Wolfram said, gently.

"How can I ever live this down? I must have looked like an absolute idiot to everyone," Yuuri said, mournfully.

"Yuuri?"

"Yes?"

"You _always_ look like an absolute idiot to everyone. Why worry about it now?"

Before Yuuri could protest against the insult, Wolfram's soft lips were against his own. Moments later, as he parted his lips and allowed Wolfram to deepen their kiss, he thought to himself that at least something good came out of his utter humiliation that afternoon.

Sometimes, he really loved Shin Makoku's quirkiness.

* * *

Author's note: Just a quick something that I've been working on between writing and editing "Suitors".


End file.
